This is the story of our Miniature Dachshund, Scrabble, and our terrible experience with Keystone Kennel, now also known as Miniature Dachshunds of Georgia.

This site is dedicated to Itty Bits, my husband's childhood Dachshund, to our Scrabble, who brings us immeasurable joy, and to all Dachshunds and other breeds everywhere!

My husband and I proudly belong to Scrabble.

All of my dogs prior to the purchase of Scrabble have been rescues. My husband’s only dog was a Miniature Dachshund named Itty Bits. I knew it was time for us to share the experience of having a great little dog together.

Once we’d decided that we were ready for a puppy, I began my search for a breeder on the internet. Unfortunately, I had no one to guide me to a reputable breeder. In truth, I really did not think that I would have anything to worry about. In my mind if you were paying a lot of money for this puppy, what should there be to worry about? Stupid, huh?

On October 16th 2004, I came upon a website and within a few minutes, found the puppy I knew we wanted. Even though Keystone Kennel, [owned by Patti McCarty sold us a sick puppy, she cleverly has a decent and luring website. The kennel and website were not alike!

Their kennel was located in Cherokee County, GA. They had puppies galore to choose from!

***Having this many dogs and puppies is not considered a good sign according to the reputable breeders that truly concentrate on "perfecting" the breed...but I didn’t know this at the time! Keystone has since downsized the amount of puppies they display on their site. When I bought Scrabble there were approximately 50 - 60 puppies available on their website. ***

BUYER BEWARE: KEYSTONE KENNEL is also known as MINIATURE DACHSHUNDS OF GEORGIA.

Miniature Dachshunds of Georgia is on probation for the next two years. Please read the time line and most recent reports here. Keystone's license, issued by the GA Department of Agriculture expired on July 31st 2008 yet they continued to sell with an expired license.

Patti McCarty currently had a couple of domains. www.keystonekennelusa.com & www.miniature-dachshund-puppies.com

There are many previous Keystone customers that are just now finding out about the many other customers that have purchased sick and dying puppies.

On October 17th 2006 the owner of the HDB posted a video that I created with photos that were taken at Keystone Kennel. What you will read are the comments from other members and the responses of Patti & Ian McCarty.

I called the breeder that day and asked if the puppy that held my interest was still available. She said yes, and I told her that I was on my way to purchase him. I arrived at Keystone Kennel a couple of hours later and within an hour after my arrival; I was on my way home with our new puppy! I was so excited! My husband was at his office that afternoon and didn’t know I was on my way home with this wonderful little surprise…needless to say he was thrilled at the sight of this sweet little red puppy.

Later that evening, we began to notice that our new puppy had very little energy, he had no interest in food or water and as the evening progressed much later into the night, there was blood in his urine and stool. Less than 12 hours after bringing home our puppy we found ourselves in the Emergency Vet’s office. We had a very sick puppy and they had to care for him overnight. Visit the Animal Emergency Center of Gwinnett at: www.aecog.com The doctors and staff are wonderful!

We were back at the animal hospital first thing the next morning and the prognosis wasn’t too good. Our new puppy, Scrabble, was near death. He was suffering from dehydration, a massive urinary tract infection, was very anemic, loaded with parasites and had blood in his stool and urine. He didn’t even weigh a full pound. For the next ten days it would take constant vet care including a transfusion from our Vet’s Rottweiler "BLADE" to save Scrabble’s life. Our vet bills soared to over a $1000 in those first ten days. Saving our Scrabble was our priority. With our patience, care and love, and the incredible care given to Scrabble by Dr. Karous and her staff at the Lawrenceville-Suwanee Animal Hospital , Scrabble finally pulled through! Visit the Lawrenceville-Suwanee Animal Hospital at: www.lsah.net

In the early hours of Scrabble’s ordeal I began to try and contact the breeder. When I was able to finally reach her, I was told that their “3 day health guarantee” states that I could return our Scrabble for another puppy of equal value.

We argued about Scrabble’s health and she said to me that she was not responsible for what may have happened after I took Scrabble home. All she knew was that he was in good health when I bought him. She also had the gall to point out that I had signed her (in my opinion "worthless") guarantee that states that I purchased a puppy that “appeared” to be in good health and that I should not have bought him if he looked ill to me! Can you imagine? How was I supposed to know that this tiny little puppy was so ill? I’m not a breeder, nor am I a vet or vet tech! But I am smart enough to know that it is impossible for a puppy to develop all the health problems that Scrabble had in less that 12 hours. I was furious and could not believe the cold and rude responses we received from Patti.

Patti McCarty has been in the breeding business for a VERY long time. She told me that she had 13 years of experience as a Veterinarian Technician. She insisted that our puppy had been examined by her Vet just the day before our purchase and that he had been in excellent health. Interestingly, when our Vet called her Vet (Orr Animal Hospital) they had no record of them seeing not only our puppy but any puppies from his litter or his parents.

During the early days of Scrabble’s ordeal, I mentioned to Patti the extent of the Vet bills and she told me that the charges were exorbitant and that we should bring Scrabble back to her Vet, where she gets a much better deal. Of course, this is the same Vet that she claimed had given him a clean bill of health just a few days earlier. Not a particularly credible offer. And as for “exchanging” him, this was simply not an option. To quote a friend, “he was not a defective tee shirt that could easily be exchanged”, he was our baby…we would do all we could to ensure that he would be a healthy and happy puppy.

Our frustrations with Patti began to mount. Besides her intransigence regarding reimbursement for some of the vet bills she began to stonewall us on getting Scrabble's AKC registration papers. Excuse after excuse piled up and I began to do some research. I contacted the Department of Agriculture in GA and asked that they send me all public records and documents on Keystone Kennel.

On February 28th 2005, we received close to 200 pages of reports! Needless to say, the complaints and problems overwhelmed us. Scrabble was on the road to healing but we were amazed to find out that there were others with similar problems that seemed to go unresolved. I am sure that there are more complaints dated after August 2004 which I do not have. However, the Better Business Bureau of Cherokee County does have 13 unresolved complaints registered with them in the last 36 months (Keystone Kennel is not a member of the BBB).

It was only after I created a web page telling Scrabble’s Story to the internet world and her finding The HotDog Blog community of Dachshund lovers did Patti start to get the message. The negative publicity was ‘causing her a problem’ and she offered to pay half of our Vet bills if I would take the “bad stuff” about our experience with Keystone off of our website.

In late June, I learned that Patti had moved again. Losing her lease for the second or third time in less than five years resulted in her leaving approximately 200 miniature dachshunds in a friend’s field with no shelter from the elements. The high temperatures at this time were in the 90’s with tremendous afternoon thunderstorms. How can someone responsible for hundreds of little dogs not take care of basic business responsibilities like making sure they have a safe place to stay??? How do you not have a plan available to move a large kennel like this when you don’t own the property that you lease? Yet it happens time and time again.

Originally, I had posted the reports from the Department of Agriculture on www.hotdogblog.com where they are linked in PDF form. They are also located right here on my website. Just click on the Keystone Kennel Reports tab above.

Why is a breeder with so many complaints against them still allowed to breed and sell puppies? In all my contact with Patti McCarty I have never been able to get an honest answer. I was treated terribly by Patti and I would never recommend her as a breeder! There are so many questions that just gone unanswered and most of all, I am so upset about the obvious poor treatment these dogs get (though you would never suspect such just by looking at their website). This kennel is run by Patti and her husband, Ian. The following question must be asked...how can this many dogs get all the proper care and socializing they require from just two people??

Until weak and poorly defined animal protection laws are changed and strengthened “businesses” like this and the people that run them must be challenged for answers. There has to be a voice for these wonderful little dogs that cannot speak for themselves.